Page 11 of Summertime Hexy
I wipe my hands on my pants. Try again with a nearby pebble. Just something, anything.
“Lumina,” I say, aiming for a basic light spell.
The pebble hisses—and turns black.
That’s when I feel it. That awful, heavy thing behind my ribs. The one that’s been creeping in since spring. The one that whispersyou’re losing itandyou’re not enough.
I crouch, digging my fingers into the grass like that’ll ground me.
It doesn’t.
The tether buzzes.
Before I can even fully register what’s happening, Derek’s boots appear in the edge of my vision.
Of course he’s here. Stupid tether. Stupid vampire instincts.
“Don’t,” I say, voice ragged. “Don’t say anything.”
He doesn’t.
I stare at the ground. At my traitor fingers. At the dust of a charm that should’ve been easy.
“I can’t—” I start. Stop. Try again. “Something’s wrong with me.”
The wind stirs. A bird chirps. My throat tightens.
“I used to be good at this,” I say, softer now. “Not perfect. Butgood. I could make sigils in my sleep. I could light six candles with one breath. I once summoned a ghost cat onpurpose.But now…”
I look at my hands again.
“They keep slipping through me,” I whisper. “My spells. Like they don’t want to stay.”
The tether tugs. A faint pull. I don’t move.
Derek steps closer.
I brace for a lecture. A snide comment. Maybe an eye roll so aggressive it causes a lunar eclipse.
Instead, he sinks down onto the grass beside me—slow, deliberate. His boots crease at the ankle. His coat pools around him.
Still, he says nothing.
I finally glance sideways.
He’s just looking at me.
Not judging.
Not annoyed.
Just…watching. Like I’m a puzzle he actually wants to understand.
“I don’t know what’s happening to me,” I say. “And I’m so damn scared it’s never going to come back. That I peaked at seventeen and now I’m just a broken sparkler pretending to be a firework.”
There’s a pause. Long enough to make my chest ache.
Then he reaches out.
